Federal procedure requires a defendant to plead all counterclaims that arise out of the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff’s claim, or his claim may be barred in a later suit. Fed. R. Civ. P. 13(a). Although the...more

Twenty-seven years ago the Second Circuit was faced with a debtor who proposed to use the Bankruptcy Code to avoid her student loan debt – only five months after graduation. The Second Circuit came down harshly on Ms. Brunner...more

On August 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a debt collector’s representation to a debtor that her student loans were “ineligible” for bankruptcy discharge is a “false, misleading, or deceptive”...more